St. Vincent Amazon

(Amazona guildingii)

Facts

IUCN VULNERABLE (VU)

Facts about this animal

The St. Vincent Amazon is a large, heavy parrot with a length of about 40 cm. The forehead, forecrown, lores and the area around the eyes are creamy-white, merging to orange on the hindcrown and the throat. The ear coverts and the posterior of the cheeks are violet-blue. The long feathers of the nape and the hindneck are olive green tinged with blue and tipped with black; the foreneck is orange. It has bronze-brown feathers, tipped with black. The abdomen is suffused with green. The tail feathers are orange at the base with a wide central band of dark violet-blue and broadly tipped with orange-yellow. The upper tail coverts are bronze-brown tipped with green. The carpal edge of the wings is orange, the upper tertials dark green, tinged with brown, while the lower are tinged with violet-blue and sometimes tipped with yellow. The primary coverts are green with the outer ones edged with dull violet-blue. It has violet-blue outer secondaries with orange bases and centrally banded with green, becoming violet-blue near the tips. The secondary coverts are orange-brown with concealed green bases. The median and the lesser wing coverts are light bronze-brown and the greater wing coverts and the underside of the flight feathers are yellow. Its bill is light horn coloured, tinged with olive green and marked with grey at the base. The iris is orange and it has pale grey legs. Immature birds are similar to the adult but the brighter colours are subdued.

Did you know?
that, although only a few hundred birds remain in the wild, the St. Vincent parrot is hunted for it's edible flesh and is also often taken from the nest for illegal pet trade?

Why do zoos keep this animal

With probably less than 800 birds surviving in the wild the St. Vincent's parrot is vulnerable to extinction. With a view of building up a self-sustaining reserve population, an International Studbook has been established under the WAZA umbrella, and coordinated conservation breeding programmes are operated at the regional level by AZA.

Like other parrots, St. Vincent amazons are conspicuous and attractive birds, which are good ambassador species for the conservation of neotropical forests. They have an interesting anatomy and behaviour, are intelligent birds able to mimic human speech and even to associate words with their meanings, and are thus also of educational interest. Zoos may keep amazon parrots also for animal welfare reasons as they may have to take care of confiscated birds, or former pet birds.